Major Stokem 2
Article: Keith Rebhorn
Photos: Blair Caldwell
What an event! Hosting this event was ridiculously fun, and was quite the challenge. The challenges started for me when a fellow skater checked on the hill early in the week and saw that there were tree’s down, snow on the ground, and anti-stoke spread all across the race hill. CRAP! What to do!
So Friday, good friend and Earthwing team rider Pat Schep and I drove to the hill which was located in a park, and the entrance to the hill was closed, but the parking lot to the park was open. So we parked, grabbed our boards and skated to the entrance. Skating through the park to the hill, we noticed the snow was gone, and all of the downed trees were cut up and to the side of the road. When we got to the top of the hill, there was no snow, and the road looked clear of everything but anti-stoke (you know those little sticks you think you can ride over but will actually stop you?). So we skated down throwing standies the whole way, and came to the conclusion that this was going to be an awesome event. Closed road, and all we needed to do was get there early Saturday morning and sweep away the anti-stoke.
We got back to our house and awaited the arrival of some skate buddies from further away. Michael Rubin, Anton Milioti and Chris “O-no!” Buono arrived at our place around 10, and we started to kick back, relax, and watch some skate-videos. After about 20 minutes of that, we went out and did some urban downhill, skating around north Jersey with the city as our backdrop, we played in traffic, timed some lights on downhill runs, and had a good time.
Saturday morning we woke up around 8 to head over to the hill, all of us were grumbling about how the White Castle and PBR from the night before was creating unfavorable smells, sounds, and potential accidents. We got over to the entrance to the park, dropped off brooms, decks, prizes, helmets, and everyone who wasn’t driving. The drivers drove up to the parking lot and parked the cars, and skated down to the hill. We started skating/walking/dragging the gear, and once at the top, some of the guys started sweeping, and I started taking names, and getting ready for the race.
“Oh no, it’s the cops!” At the entrance to the park, a cop rolled up and opened the gate to the park, and then drove to the hill. He drove past me which was a relief, but continued down the hill and talked to the guys sweeping. He asked us if we were going to “shred the hill” and if so, just to skate safe, and that if anyone needed an ambulance, we would get ticketed for trespassing. I also then asked him if he needed help moving a barrier, and in Super Troopers fashion, said, “I’m a Palisades Officer, unlike the townies, I get this uniform dirty.”
People started making their way in, and holy harry, by the time we we’re about to start, there was at least 50 skaters there, and more were on their way. By the time we started we had 49 people racing, most also sliding, and some that were just hanging out cruising. All in all, there was about 60-70 skaters there, and everyone had a smile on their face. I sorted the heats out by lining people up in height order, and counting them off. (49/4 = 11 heats of 4, 1 heat of 5) So racing started, and the top 2 from each moved on… Eventually we made it down to 3 heats of 4. The top 2 moved on creating 6 semi-finalists. We then did 2 heats of 3 and the top 2 made it down to the final. The final consisted of Michael Freifeld (Clutch Skateboards), Sean Graves (Phat Deanz & Rayzor Rays Skate Shop) myself, and this new(er) guy Andrew (sorry didn’t catch your last name).
The final was pretty intense, with the four of us pushing into the top turn and all having to take unexpected lines. Andrew ended up out in front followed my Fifi, Sean and then me. We stayed close and going into the slight right I started making moves to pass Sean and Fifi started making moves to pass Andrew. Going into the tight left at the bottom, Fifi was next to Andrew, and Sean was next to me. Going into the turn, I set-up wider and still in fourth, and cut the inside, I started passing Sean and Andrew as they started sliding out, and if the course had gone any further I maybe would have been able to make moves to pass Fifi. It ended up with Fifi in first, me in second, Sean in third, and Andrew in fourth.
After the final, we had a switch race and an old school tuck race. Dan Lawton raped face in the switch race, taking the hill almost as fast as he did regular. For the old school tuck race, Alex Newton won with a solid old school tuck. These events were for shiggles (www.urbandictionary.com) and to help push peoples limits.
The racing was over, and the slide jam was held. Everyone was throwing down big and hard, and many a people decided to get intimate with the pavement as they tried new tricks and bigger slides. After hiking in, hiking up the hill multiple times, and skating, a lot of people were exhausted and were just watching everyone else skate. Around 4, I called everyone down to the bottom and together we figured out the winners for the slide jam. First Place went to Jeremy Ross, second place was tied between Andriy and Dan Lawton, and third place went to a young shredder named Nick.
I handed out the cash prizes, then the schwag that was all from East Coast Companies, and then everyone slowly started trickling out of the park. Exhausted, but in good spirits from having been part of a sick event. Big thanks again to all the sponsors, the cops for being cool, and for everyone that showed up. (Sponsors were: BeastCoastLongboarding.com, Comet Skateboards, Ono Butts, East Coast Core Skate, Original, Skate Rags online, Kraffft Work, Night Skateboards, Phat Deanz, and Utopia Skate Shop out of Connecticut.)
Check out the thread in the forums here: http://www.beastcoastlongboarding.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=238
